When the Leica BLK360 G1 was released in 2016, it was an overnight sensation in the building industry. A highly accurate terrestrial scanner that could be operated at the push of a button and weighed less than a kilogram? All for less than $20,000?
Architects, engineers, and construction (AEC) companies lined up.
“The BLK360 G1 was a product that opened up the laser scanning market and introduced laser scanning to many new trades,” said Fabio Ponzio, Vice President of Building Solutions at Hexagon Geosystems. “Architects were now looking into laser scanning during the design phase, and carpenters and similar trades were realizing the benefits of the BLK360 to capture existing conditions of their site, or to create something custom-made.
Now, with the new Leica BLK360 – which is faster, more accurate, and produces better quality images than its predecessor – the landscape of reality capture for AEC and beyond is about to shift again.
Here’s how.
Architecture
Whether you’re an architect who’s a total novice with reality capture or already using laser scanners to help produce 3D and BIM models, the new BLK360 will save vast amounts of project time while delivering precision accuracy.
For architects new to reality capture, the BLK360’s 4-millimeter accuracy means that your scans create a true “digital twin” that can form the basis of your designs. An accurate scan gives you all the complex measurements you need in a 3D file and means lessening human error and saving time on repeated site visits. Traditional methods work, but scanning is up to 10 times faster. The ease-of-use of the BLK360 also means saving money where you might have contracted work out to a service provider.
“I see the BLK360 as a tool that’s likely a part of the next paradigm shift in architecture, which at this point, I can only imagine,” Kyle Barker, a Boston-based architect, said of the original BLK360.
For architects already on the forefront and using laser scanning as part of their business, the new BLK360 delivers more of what they already loved about the BLK360 G1: The new scanner is faster, it’s more accurate, and can handle large-scale projects with ease. Delivering 2D, 3D, and BIM models from scans takes less time, especially with automated registration through our Visual Inertial System (VIS) – an advanced technology adopted from the Leica RTC360.
“The new BLK360 is even more intuitive to scan,” Ponzio said. “Before, it was already extremely easy – you had to push one button. But with the new BLK360 and the automatic pre-registration, it's getting to the level where you can’t do many things wrong. You have all your data immediately on your phone or tablet. You can verify your scans in the field. It’s five times faster and even better than the original BLK360.”
Engineering
For engineers, especially BIM service providers, the benefits of this next-generation scanner are clear: Point clouds of large, multi-story buildings can be captured much faster, dramatically decreasing the time spent modeling. Pre-registration through VIS means not having to pause to align scans through Cyclone FIELD 360 manually. And validating your data in the field gives you the confidence to move on to the following scan without any surprises.
These improvements make the new BLK360 a powerful tool in your scanning arsenal. Creating image-rich, accurate digital twins and sharing them with clients and key stakeholders helps avoid duplication and clashes when merging various designs while moving through different phases of your project.
Construction
For construction businesses that don’t outsource their BIM work – or haven’t yet dipped a toe into reality capture as a method of modeling – there are many advantages to the new BLK360.
Because so much construction occurs in or amid already existing structures, quick, accurate laser scanning helps eliminate the need to verify existing plans and blueprints – if those even exist. Capturing as-builts now takes a fraction of the time it did before. It also skirts the need for time-consuming and error-prone manual measurement. Simply put: The lasers don’t lie.
Scanning during the construction process also becomes a factor in quality assurance. You know that the digital twin you have and share with your client reflects reality every step of the way, giving you complete, accurate control over your project and the inevitable challenges that arise during any build.
Real Estate and Interior Design
Real estate is a competitive field. Yet for firms that deliver documentation and visualization of residential and commercial spaces, the new BLK360’s increased visual data quality along with quicker scans means getting an edge on the competition.
The four HDR cameras with 5-bracket imagery make this device ideal for creating immersive virtual tours and branded floorplans and can make for smoother workflows for renovators and interior designers. In addition, the digital twins it produces accurately measure a home or property, within millimeters, which allows for proper real estate valuation.
“The images are so important,” Ponzio said. “You can now create a virtual walkthrough and have the big advantage of being able to accurately measure as well. It’s fantastic. You have higher image quality at extremely high speed. And you have the dimensional data to assist in valuation—a huge benefit to both real estate agents and competitive scanning service providers.”
Facility Management, Operations, and Maintenance
A final area in which the new BLK360 can shine is facility management. Having an accurate digital twin of your facility means being able to monitor, alter, and plan around large, complex spaces and buildings from the comfort of a computer.
“I think we can have a big play in the facility management area,” Ponzio said. “There are so many different applications that, with the original BLK360 G1, we saw exciting uses like managing large, active hospital and educational facilities. We’re excited to see even more of those applications.”
Democratizing reality capture – again
Another feature the new BLK360 offers is the ability to export vendor-neutral E57 files through the BLK Live app and Cyclone REGISTER 360. This is something that our customers have been asking for and that we’re pleased to provide as part of our mission to expand reality capture.
“Of course, we would like to keep them in our software environment,” Ponzio explained.
But our strategy always has been that we are open to third-party solutions. Because the market is big, customers have different preferences, and we don't want to have a closed system, in a sense. Part of democratization means that customers can use their data however they need in their own systems.
Moreover, the new BLK360 fulfills the promise of continuing to innovate and offer actual evolutions to our scanners, not just minor upgrades.
“I'm extremely excited that were again able to just bring out such an innovation, not just bring something incremental, where we say, ‘Yeah, now it’s five times faster!’” Ponzio continued.
“I can't wait to see how the market will react and what our customers do. Our customers normally have the greatest ideas because they are extremely creative.”
